


Youth of a Nation

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-12-11
Updated: 2003-12-11
Packaged: 2017-11-01 10:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/355611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A violent day at Smallville High leads Clark to seek comfort from his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Youth of a Nation

**Author's Note:**

> My thanks to mercs mercs for their constant support and beta work. 

## Youth of a Nation

by Quin Rhodes

<http://quinlanrd.tripod.com>

* * *

Author: Quin Rhodes  
Title: Youth of a Nation  
Rating: PG-13  
Pairing: Clark/Lex  
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money, etc.  
Feedback address: Quinlanrd@aol.com  
Website: [quinlanrd.tripod.com](http://quinlanrd.tripod.com)/  
Note: Originally published in Silk and Flannel 1, available from Agent with Style Summary: A violent day at Smallville High leads Clark to seek the comfort of his best friend. Beta Special thanks to Lynn Montgomery who made this fic many times better for her comments. 

++ 

Noise rebounded off the walls in the crowded high school cafeteria. Groups of students filled every available space as they munched absently on their lunches while excitedly catching up with all the new gossip from the past morning. The students had to raise their voices to be heard over one another, while the teachers shook their heads and tried to maintain some semblance of order in the large room. 

In the corner sat a dark-haired teenager. Alone, with his back to the wall, he sat quietly staring off into the sea of students, but he clearly saw nothing. The boy was like any other small town high school kid. He was a little gangly, a little shy around girls, and a little unsure of himself generally. Like all the other kids in his class, he was starting to grow into his skin, into the man that he would become. But unlike the rest of his class, and the rest of the planet, he had special gifts that made him unlike anyone else. He was an alien. 

Even thinking the words were next to impossible for the boy. He had always known he was different--stronger, faster, harder to physically injure. He had thought it was the meteors. He was a freak, but he wasn't alone. Now he knew different. His dad had shown him the truth only a few weeks ago, and he hadn't yet come to grips with his new reality. 

"These are the days when you decide the man you will become." He thought he had read that somewhere, and it seemed very true to his life at the moment. He still had all the problems of a normal teenaged boy, but he had so many other complications. How should he use his gifts? Should he use his gifts at all? What was his destiny? Was he sent to this planet for a purpose? Was he the only one of his kind on the Earth? 

Shaking his head, trying to clear his morose thoughts, he looked around the crowded lunchroom, observing the people he thought of as his peers. So many kids, but so few variations. To his left were the jocks and their girlfriends. Mostly football players, but some track guys and basketball players were mixed in also. They were all standing a little taller than the rest of the students, confident in the idea that they would rule the day. 

To his right were the academics. Some called them nerds or geeks, but mostly they were just ignored. They seemed happy enough discussing physics or calculus, confident in the idea that they would rule the future. 

Then there were the people in the middle, like his friends Pete and Chloe. They were a little bookish, but not obsessed with the grade, a little athletic, but not enough to join the elite squads. They were the silent majority, those who were just counting down the days until graduation, confident in neither their present, nor their future, but anxious to get on with whatever life had in store for them. 

Clark Kent used to believe that he fit into that group, the group in whose midst he normally still sat. But these recent revelations in his life were conspiring to make him a completely unique class on his own and he had decided to sit by himself today to try and come to grips with that fact. All his life he knew he was different. His parents had drilled it into him. 

"You're not like other kids, Clark. You have to be careful, Clark. You may hurt someone, Clark." 

He had been faster and stronger to the point of absurdity, but he had never known why. He had always had to hide his true nature, even from his best friends. There was no one he could be completely himself around except his parents, and now he no longer even had that luxury. 

He supposed all teenagers went through the breaking away from their parents stage, but for Clark, breaking away from his parents and asserting his independence would break the only ties to complete honesty that he still had. He would be completely alone. They had been the only ones to know his whole truth--now no one would. He could confide to Pete about Lana, to Chloe about his schoolwork and doubts about the future, but there was no one he could confide in about his parents' betrayal. 

Even the thought of that word, so charged with emotion, connected with his parents shocked and disappointed him. But there was no other word for the depth of hurt they had caused him. He had always been stronger and faster, yes, but he'd also always been human. They had let him believe in his humanity, in his origins of being lost in the meteor shower, not the cause of it. 

He had always been Clark Kent, their adopted, but greatly loved son. He had always been honest with them about everything that truly mattered in his life. They had taught him to be as honest as possible in his dealings with others. They were forced to be slightly isolated as a family due to his abilities, but he had thought they had followed their own advice and been honest with him. Now he knew it had all been a lie. 

He was finding it harder and harder to act like his normal self around his parents--if he even knew what that was anymore. The first week or so, it wasn't difficult to maintain his routine. He was in complete shock. He had told his parents that he understood about them keeping the truth from him, but he didn't. How could he? And he was actually disappointed in them, especially his mom, for not knowing that he was lying to them about his grace in dealing with the revelation. He supposed they wanted to believe he was okay so that they could feel better about lying. If he was okay, then it had been okay to lie to him for so long about his origins. 

His last thread of normalcy had been ripped away when his father showed him the space ship in the cellar. He was an alien. He now had no hope of figuring out his life. It all came back to the same idea--that even with his speed and strength, he hadn't been all alone. The meteor rocks had changed a lot of people in town. It had been a comfort to him to know he had not been the only one affected by the meteor shower. He didn't have that comfort anymore. 

Lana had been changed by the rocks, not physically, but her life had been drastically altered. Even Lex Luthor had been changed. But now, he knew the meteor shower was his fault. It was because of him that Lana's parents had died and Lex's life had changed. 

He hadn't meant for it to happen. He had been a little boy, a baby really, but that didn't change his sense of responsibility. He could thank his Kent upbringing for that. 

Clark peered around the room once more. Which group would Lex have been in? Maybe the fancy schools he had attended didn't have groups like this. Maybe they had different groups. 

Clark had trouble imagining Lex in the middle of any group. Lex was a supremely confident group of one. He could have waltzed into any situation and owned it in a matter of minutes. Clark envied that ability. Lex was charismatic and a natural-born leader. The world had only seen a few such leaders, Clark thought, and all were destined to change it. 

It was this capacity for greatness that drew Clark to Lex. Lex's money and power were new to Clark, but he had never been impressed with such things, and he didn't want to become so now. His family had always had what they needed, and he had never wanted for much more. With money came problems he didn't want to deal with. He knew that from the moment he saw his dad dismiss Lex at the edge of the river before ever really talking with him. 

People with the inherent greatness of Lex Luthor always changed the world. The only question for Lex would be if the change he made would be for the better or for the worse. Would Lex be a Kennedy or a Hitler? Clark was drawn to the supreme assurance and confidence of the young millionaire. He wanted to observe the transformation. 

Clark rested his head on his hand wearily. His thoughts had been going back to Lex Luthor more and more lately. Lex was unlike anyone Clark had ever known. The money was part of it, sure. It wasn't like he knew any other multi-millionaires, but it was the confidence that kept bringing him back. The confidence and the fact that Lex always seemed pleased to see him. Lex was a massively busy man, yet he always had time to talk to Clark about whatever was troubling the teenager at the moment. He never made Clark feel like a child, but always treated him as an equal--even though Clark knew it wasn't true. 

More and more, Clark was realizing his interactions with Lex were somehow charged. Lex was more than a simple friend. Clark was finally admitting to himself that he was attracted to Lex in a sexual way. He had been fighting it from the first breath that Lex took on his own after the car accident, but he was losing the battle. With everything else in his life, this attraction was the last thing he needed. Just one more difference to widen the gap between him and the rest of Smallville. 

He hadn't done anything about the attraction yet, but he couldn't ignore the way his heart started pounding faster and how he stood up just a little straighter when Lex was around. He couldn't be sure, but he thought Lex felt it too. Clark wanted Lex to see him as an adult, an equal. 

Lex was the first adult who saw Clark as a person separate from his parents. He'd always been the Kent kid, Jonathan and Martha's boy. That was who he was, but not all that he would become. Lex knew that and thought of him as Clark first. Clark returned the favor and saw Lex without the LuthorCorp logo attached. 

Lex had told him that Clark was the closest thing he had ever had to a friend in his whole life. Clark hadn't questioned him at the time, because he had been dealing with the loss of his powers and the problems in his own life of lies, but he really wanted to ask Lex about that statement. How could he have made it over twenty years and never had any friends? 

Clark had to keep secrets, but even he had a few true friends during his life. Pete and Chloe had been there for him almost as long as he could remember. Even if they didn't understand or know everything, they still would be there for him, supporting him as much as they could. They were what had made his life bearable when his "gifts" had been almost more than he could handle. 

He sought them out in the crowd. They were sitting at their usual table deep in conversation. As if sensing Clark's eyes on them, Chloe glanced up and caught Clark looking. She smiled and waved him over. He pasted on the best smile he could muster and slowly shook his head no. Chloe nodded fondly and continued her conversation. 

He knew they were worried about him today, but they were used to his pensive moods and knew when it was best to leave him alone. He would seek out their counsel when he had spent enough time on his own to think through the worst of his problems. They were worried, but they knew that Clark would snap out of his mood given enough time. 

Clark was incredibly grateful for their understanding. Their friendship was solid, lifelong, cemented in a common history and childhood. He knew that type of relationship wouldn't last much longer. All childhood friends grow apart and move on, but he also knew that he loved Pete and Chloe and always would. Even as adults, if they completely lost touch, they would still be a part of his history. 

Lex was a new type of friend and Clark was having trouble dealing with the change. He thought he would have been able to deal with these growing feelings for Lex better if he were more confident in the strength of their friendship. His friendship with Lex was still so new. He had been attracted to Lana for years, and even with that attraction, he could feel comfortable with his friendship with her. He understood her ways. She was from Smallville and he had known her his whole life, even if they hadn't really talked until they got into high school. 

Lex wasn't that much older than Clark. How had he gotten through his life with no one to confide in, no one to share silly secrets with? Clark found himself wanting to be that person and more for Lex. A friend first, but maybe something much deeper. 

He had noticed the way Lex looked at him--as if he was the only person in the world that mattered. Lex's intensity when looking at Clark had the boy going weak at the knees, even without the benefit of meteor rocks. 

He still liked Lana, and was still interested in her as a friend, but now he realized his feelings had been just a crush--the last gasps of childhood innocence. His feelings for Lex were all grown up, all intrigue and interest, not simple infatuation as it had been with Lana. 

The constant noise had dimmed somewhat and he noticed the lunchroom crowd beginning to thin. He twisted around to look up at the clock behind him. He only had about ten minutes before he was due in his next class. He had wasted his whole lunch break thinking about Lex and coming up with no new answers. Something was going to have to give soon. He couldn't keep mooning over the man and doing nothing about it. 

Clark pushed his chair back, shrugged into his backpack, and grabbed the tray containing his uneaten lunch. In a daze, he walked across the room, dumped his food in the trash bin and placed his tray on the counter to be picked up. 

He was walking toward the exit, head down, pondering excuses to see Lex after school when he heard a popping noise. Louder than fireworks, he didn't know what to think until he saw his fellow students hit the floor of the cafeteria. 

Pandemonium ensued, and Clark couldn't even see who the gunman was through the students who flew by him on their way out of the line of fire. 

Kids were on the ground, but he couldn't tell if they had been hit or if they were trying to avoid the gunfire. 

The students closest to the doors raced outside as bullets continued to fly around them. 

Clark stood motionless, shocked at the violence around him and unable to figure out how to help. 

He watched in stunned silence as the clock he had just consulted moments before shattered under fire, sending glass and plastic shards raining onto the tables below. 

Within seconds, although it felt like hours to Clark, most of the students had cleared the cafeteria. Clark could now see a single boy with a gun gripped in each of his hands firing wildly at anything that moved. 

The gunman still had a small group of students pinned down under a table. The students were all intertwined together in a small ball, unable to help themselves. 

The shooting seemed to have been focused on the more popular kids' area of the cafeteria. Whitney and his crew had escaped. 

The group still pinned down were a couple of junior varsity football players and some cheerleaders. 

Clark saw Matt, the JV quarterback, on the outer rim of the huddling mass moving slowly, mirroring the gunman's position, trying to protect the girls in the inner circle. 

There were other bodies lying in various places throughout the room. 

He tried to not see their faces, but there was Susan, from his algebra class, and across the cafeteria was James from chemistry. 

They weren't moving, so Clark focused on those he thought he could still help. 

The shooter paused his rapid firing as he stalked around a few tables. 

Clark maneuvered his way around the gunman so that when he distracted the shooter, the stranded students would have a clear shot at the exit. He just hoped the students would take the opportunity and leave quickly. 

The shooter seemed dazed, almost in a trance, not seeming to see anything until some form of movement would catch his eye. 

When he was in position, Clark moved towards the gunman to draw his attention away from the last group of students. "Why are you doing this?" 

The gunman spun around, shocked by Clark's voice. He pointed the guns directly at Clark, "Who the hell are you?" 

Clark paused. Why weren't those dumb jocks moving? He had distracted the kid enough to get both guns on him. Were they waiting for an engraved invitation? 

Clark put his hands up, hoping the familiar movie gesture would stall the gunman. "I'm Clark. I'm a freshman here. I haven't seen you around, do you go here too?" 

"I did. I won't after today. Neither will you." 

Finally, Clark saw Matt start pushing the group quickly and quietly to the door. He nodded to Clark as he left the room. 

Clark didn't think he had much time before Matt gathered his jock buddies and came rushing in to be the heroes. He had to do something now. 

The last of the students who could leave under their own power were now gone. 

Clark knew he couldn't be hurt, and there wasn't anyone but the gunman to see if he used his powers, but he was still wary. 

Suddenly the kid pulled the trigger, not giving Clark any choices. 

Clark was too busy dodging the bullet coming at him to be able to stop the gunman from turning his other gun on himself. 

Clark could only catch him before he hit the ground, the boy's head draining blood all over Clark's clothes. 

Moments later, the police stormed the room. Clark was still cradling the boy in his lap, gently rocking back and forth, his guilt at not being able to save the fallen students, nor the unknown gunman, keeping him from acknowledging their presence. 

A police officer lifted Clark by the shoulders and pushed him gently from the room. Clark heard "statement" and "medical" but the words floated by him, never connecting with his world. He thought that he nodded politely, but he wasn't really sure. 

When Clark regained his footing and was able to walk out of the building, he was greeted by a cacophony of noises--the sirens of rescue personnel speeding through Smallville, the screams and cries of students comforting each other, and the roar of engines both coming and going as the upper classmen left to be with their families and the families of the lower classmen rushed to be with their children. 

Clark knew he should seek out Chloe, Pete and Lana. They would be worried about him. He knew they were fine. He had seen the students left dead on the floor, and they were not among the fallen. He scanned the crowd, looking for his friends, but his heart wasn't in it. The only person he wanted to see at this moment was Lex. Lex would understand. Lex would make him feel again. 

Life was precious, and way too short. He really needed to see Lex. Clark started walking briskly off of the school grounds, towards the Castle. He could call Chloe to let her know he was fine and call his parents to let them know what had happened from there. By the time he hit the end of the road, he was running full speed, his mind shutting down from the sheer number of emotions he had rushing through his brain. 

++++++++++++ 

Lex was on a conference call to London. His last of the morning, before he had to go into the office. He sat behind his desk in the office of the Castle dividing his time between listening to the voices in his ear talking of stock prices and mergers and the voices from the television across the room discussing the local noonday news. 

His whole morning had been consumed with overseas phone calls, trying to negotiate a rather large, but clandestine deal. He needed to keep these calls away from his father as long as possible. When he found out, Lionel would swoop in and change everything so that Lex would have to pick up the pieces again. 

He knew Lionel would discover his dealings, but maybe he would be able to keep his father at bay for a few months before the deal would become public knowledge. Hopefully by that time he would've gotten what he needed out of the contacts and his father's interference wouldn't matter. 

The boring phone calls of the morning had an interesting side effect, however. While listening to some number cruncher drone on about falling stock prices, his thoughts had wandered to Clark Kent. 

The boy had been coming around a bit more often lately, and Lex found that he looked forward to those visits. So much so, in fact, that he sought Clark out when he didn't come around the Castle for a few days. 

Lex had learned Clark's hangouts and took advantage of that knowledge. Clark always seemed glad to see him, even if he was with his little group of friends. Lex knew Clark's friends weren't thrilled with Clark's new friendship, but they kept quiet, at least when Lex was around. He was pretty sure that Clark was getting lectures about the evils of the Luthors not only from his father, but also a few of his friends. 

Lex was amazed that Clark still seemed to want to know him. Clark looked past the Luthor name and tried to see Lex as an individual, and not his father's son. Lex would always be grateful to him for that. 

Clark's interest in him as an individual had Lex questioning himself in ways that he hadn't since his mother was alive. After her death, Lex had hardly ever seen himself as an entity separate from his father. Clark was forcing him to reexamine his life and specifically his actions. 

Before Smallville, actually before Clark Kent, Lex knew his actions were all influenced directly by his father. His destiny was with LuthorCorp, so he rebelled where he could. His clubbing was because Lionel wouldn't like it. His expulsion from Metropolis University was to see how Lionel would handle it. 

Lex knew his future was secure in the company, he had just never known his future in terms of his family. It had never occurred to him that he might be able to have real friends that could actually grow into a family of his own. 

Clark had changed all of that. Lex had never known a person like Clark Kent. Lex had never known a true friend until Clark Kent. 

He had thought that all friendships were simply business deals waiting to go awry. Friendship was like love--a fiction that poets and song writers conjured to give themselves some hope for their miserable little lives. 

But now Lex knew better. He was finally acknowledging that his feelings towards Clark went beyond mere friendship. He had been attracted to the young man since being saved by him on his first day in Smallville, but it had grown into much more than a simple attraction. 

The truck had been an ill-conceived attempt to get closer to his savior. Lex didn't know how to approach anyone without a gift, or maybe a knife, in hand. It hadn't gone exactly as planned when Clark brought the truck back, but it was the opening he had needed to keep the contact he craved. 

Now he may be craving too much. Clark could choose to do anything he wanted with his life. His destiny hadn't been mapped out before his birth. Why would he want to tie himself to someone whose life was already scripted? 

The voices on the phone were getting louder as the London voice accused the New York voice of price inflation and using faulty information. The newscaster's voice had raised an octave as well. 

Lex dealt with the confrontation on the phone as he heard the words "shooting" and "school" from the television newscaster. He looked up, wondering where the latest outbreak of school violence had erupted. 

He hung up quickly when the newscaster announced, "School shooting in Smallville leaves students dead and town in chaos. A student at Smallville High School opened fire in the school cafeteria about ten minutes ago. The firing has stopped, and the scene is being contained, but no information is being given as the police begin their investigation. We will be back with further details as soon as they come in." 

Lex felt queasy as his thoughts immediately turned to Clark. The boy was always in the middle of anything going on in the town, and Lex knew that he would have been in the middle of that cafeteria too. The TV newscast had said students were dead. Clark couldn't be dead, there was no way. Lex wouldn't allow it. He knew the absurdity of that thought, but it still didn't stop him from believing it. 

He had to get to Clark. Clark was the only one that mattered in this town--hell, he was the only one that mattered, period. It was a scary thought for a twenty-one year old man to need a high school kid that much, but there it was--the truth. He was sure he could come to grips with that, if he could only see Clark again. 

He hurried toward the door, intending to rush to the school and find Clark. If Clark wasn't there, he was sure he'd find the boy at the Kent farm reassuring his parents of his survival. Lex needed to see that Clark was okay with his own eyes. He could not accept a phone call or news from any other source. 

He knew he was obsessed with Clark, but he didn't think that was necessarily a bad thing. He hadn't acted on it, and was rather proud of that fact. Regardless of what his father thought, he was becoming more responsible. Clark was an extremely bright, sensitive and sexy young man. Lex was naturally going to be drawn to his light. But Clark was also very wholesome and not very worldly. He wouldn't be ready for Lex's advances, so Lex was content to sit back and enjoy the teenager's company for as long as he could. Lex had other ways to relieve the sexual tension that he felt after Clark's visits. 

Lex grabbed whatever coat he happened to get as he raced to open the door. His head was down in his hurry to get to a car and he rammed right into an unmoving and blood-stained Clark Kent. 

"Clark! Are you okay? What are you doing here?" Lex grabbed the solemn boy by the arm and led him back into the Castle. He received no answer, no response of any kind as he guided Clark into the parlor and sat him on the couch. He yelled for his butler, instructing the man to bring him some towels, a bowl of water, a blanket and some clothes for Clark. The man nodded and hurried to comply with Mr. Luthor's request. 

Lex sat on the coffee table in front of Clark staring into the teen's slack face and unseeing eyes. He rubbed on Clark's arms, then over his chest and back to be sure that the blood on his clothes was not his own. How did Clark get to him so quickly? The shooting had only stopped about 15 minutes ago, at least that's what the newscaster had said. Clark didn't have a car, and the walk to the Castle was much longer than 15 minutes. 

It was one more anomaly that Lex would have to try to forget if he wanted to remain friends with Clark. This friendship had put more strain on his scientist's mind than any theoretical problem ever had in the past. 

"Clark, please talk to me. Let me know you can at least hear me in there." Lex had never pleaded in his life, but he was coming remarkably close now. 

There was still no response as Lex started to take off Clark's shirt. Maybe getting the stench and stickiness of the blood off of him would help Clark come back from wherever he had retreated to. 

Lex worked quickly, with little help from a still non-responsive Clark, as he stripped the boy down to his boxers. The butler took Clark's clothes from Lex and handed him a wet towel before leaving the room. Good help was essential in Lex's life and he knew he would not be interrupted until he called for something. 

Clark started to come around as Lex wiped the blood that had soaked through the shirt onto the man's chest. Lex had always thought of Clark as a boy, but seeing his body, even with him in this shocked state, proved that Clark was definitely no longer a child. Too bad Lex had no time nor desire to enjoy that fact at this moment. 

"Lex. What am I doing here?" 

It was amazing. Lex could see that Clark had no discomfort at awakening from his stupor dressed only in his boxers while Lex wiped him down with a wet towel, only confusion, but trust that Lex would be able to make it all better. 

"I don't know, Clark. I heard about the shooting at the school on the television. I was running out the door to find you when I stumbled over you standing outside my door. You've been here about 10 minutes, but this is the first time I've been able to get you to talk to me. Are you alright?" 

Clark blinked a couple times and slowly scanned the room. Lex could see the confusion in Clark's face giving way to a bone deep sadness, and what looked like guilt. Clark's head finally stopped and hung low as if weighted down with too many thoughts. 

"I couldn't stop him." Clark whispered so low that Lex had to strain to hear him. "I don't even know who he was. I'd never seen him in school before. I thought I knew everybody. It's not a big school, Lex. I should have known him. I should have been able to do something." 

Lex knew that Clark had done whatever he could have--he always did more than anyone else would have thought possible--but he also knew Clark had an over developed sense of responsibility and guilt. It was now his job to now convince Clark that there was nothing anyone could have done. 

"Clark, look at me." Lex waited until Clark was able to raise his head slightly and look into Lex's face. "There was nothing you could have done. If someone wants to go into a school and start shooting people, that's his problem, not yours. If you didn't know him, there's no way you could have predicted it and I'm confident that more people are alive than there would have been had you not been there." 

Clark nodded, but he didn't look convinced. Lex had no idea what to say next, but he knew he had to get Clark into some clean clothes and warmed up to get him out of whatever shock he was still in. 

"Let's get you dressed, Clark." They moved together, neither one wanting to be out of each other's space. As soon as Clark slipped the borrowed t-shirt over his head, he grabbed Lex for a strong hug. It seemed that he was holding onto Lex as if he was a lifeline to Clark's drowning man. Lex gave himself into the hug and held Clark as closely as possible. He felt the vibrations in his own body as Clark gave into his overwhelming emotions and started to silently cry. Lex simply held on, knowing Clark needed this catharsis before he could deal with the real world again. 

After a few minutes of holding each other up, the men pulled apart slowly, but before Lex could pull away completely, Clark stopped him. "All I could think about after it happened was getting to you. I knew you could make me feel again, make me whole. You're my best friend, Lex. But I want us to be more." 

Lex stared at the man in his arms, speechless for one of the few times in his life. Clark was handing him the opening he had been looking for, but did he really know what he was doing? Lex wasn't used to being noble, but he also wasn't used to feeling the way he did about Clark. He wanted this chance, but he also wanted Clark to be confident in his decision. 

Lex leaned into Clark and tilted his head slightly. Clark took the hint and leaned down, softly placing his lips on Lex's in the sweetest and most innocent kiss Lex had ever been a part of. Before Clark could take it any further, Lex pulled away. "I want that too, Clark, but we'll have to take it slow, for both of us." 

Clark nodded, then pulled Lex back and just held on to him, resting his head on Lex's shoulder. Lex simply held onto his friend and rubbed what he hoped were soothing circles on Clark's back. 

Lex finally broke their silence. "Do you need to call your parents? They must be worried sick about you." 

"Yeah, I'd better do that now before they send out a search party. But can I stay here for a while longer? I don't think I can face them yet." 

"Sure, Clark. See if they'll allow you to stay through dinner. I'll take you home after we eat." Lex handed Clark the phone and waited to see if Clark wanted him to stay or would rather be alone to make the call. Clark started dialing and nodded for Lex to stay with him. 

Lex wandered to the other side of the room to give Clark at least a little bit of privacy for his call. His thoughts were jumbled, but he was happy. He was ready to give Clark the time he needed to deal with this new development in their relationship. Truth be told, he needed time to deal with this revelation as well. Clark was extremely young, not very experienced, but also very mature for his age. Lex had to prepare himself for the complications this new romantic relationship were sure to have on their friendship. Lex would not risk their friendship over these newly developing feelings of Clark's. 

Lex also knew his own heart. He would not be able to stop himself from digging into the mystery that was Clark Kent. He would have to be very careful, or he would lose Clark altogether, and that was completely unacceptable. 

But all those issues were for later, Lex thought as he watched Clark sign off with his parents. Tonight was just about Clark. He needed to make sure Clark knew how much he was needed and how glad Lex was that he wasn't one of the students hurt or killed in the shooting. Lex also knew he would have to be the one to convince Clark to work through his feelings of guilt and impotence over what he had seen in the cafeteria. Lex didn't know what exactly had happened, but it was pretty clear that Clark had a lot to deal with, and he had come to Lex for the comfort an answers he needed. Lex would not let him down. 

They moved to the couch from different sides of the room, but sat down at the same time. Both seeking the comfort of their best friend. 


End file.
